The 1st T20I of the three-match series against India at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, will be Sri Lanka’s 100th T20I. They will become the 4th team to play these many matches in cricket’s shortest format. Pakistan (120), New Zealand (100) and South Africa (100) are the other three teams to have played 100 or more T20Is. On this landmark occasion, we look at their journey so far through numbers.

Out of 99 T20Is so far, they have won 51, lost 46, one tied and one ended with no result. However, if the result of tied match eliminator is added, then Sri Lanka’s victory tally moves to 52. But are they as good as other teams who have played these many matches at the same stage? Let’s have a look at it.

Team’s T20I records before 100th match

Team

Won

Lost

Tied

NR

Pakistan

57

39

3 (2 won & 1 lost)

0

New Zealand

50

42

5 (2 won & 3 lost)

2

South Africa

58

40

0

1

Sri Lanka

51

46

1 (won)

1

Well, going by the above table, Sri Lanka have won more than New Zealand but if included the result of tied match eliminator, then both will stands at the same spot with 52 wins each. In terms of defeats, Sri Lanka definitely are the worst and are also the team with joint-most T20I defeats across all sides along with Bangladesh.

***

So far, Sri Lanka have had 9 captains in the format — joint 2nd most by any teams till their 99 T20I along with England and South Africa. Australia holds the top spot in the list with 10 captains from 95 T20Is.

Going by individual captain’s record, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were the most successful from the lot, while Dinesh Chandimal ends up at the top in terms of most defeats.

Coming to yearly performance in the format by Sri Lanka, their best came in 2014 — the same year they won ICC World T20 title in 3rd attempt. They won 8 out of 9 T20Is in 2014. Their win-loss ratio of 8:1 in 2014 is the best by any team with minimum 6 matches played in a calendar year.

On the other hand, two years later in 2016, they faced their worst year by losing 13 out of 16 games. Their win-loss ratio of 0.230 in 2016 is the second worst by any team with minimum of 10 matches played in a calendar year.

Sri Lanka’s yearly T20I performance

Year

T20Is

Won

Lost

Tied

NR

2006

3

2

1

0

0

2007

5

3

2

0

0

2008

4

3

1

0

0

2009

13

7

6

0

0

2010

9

5

4

0

0

2011

4

3

1

0

0

2012

11

5

4

1

1

2013

9

6

3

0

0

2014

9

8

1

0

0

2016

16

3

13

0

0

2017*

12

5

7

0

0

They certainly have had rough patches in last two years, which includes their poor show in 2016 World T20 as well. However, despite that, Sri Lanka have won the most matches in World T20 history. From 35 T20Is from 6 edition of World T20, Sri Lanka have won 22, including three finals and one title as well.

Most wins in World T20

Team

T20Is

Won

Lost

Tied

NR

Sri Lanka

35

22

12

1

0

India

33

20

11

1

1

Pakistan

34

19

14

1

0

South Africa

30

18

12

0

0

West Indies

31

17

12

1

1

Batting & Bowling

Tillakaratne Dilshan is leading-run scorer in T20Is for Sri Lanka with 1,889 runs at 28.19 from 80 matches. He also hit one century and a fifty in the format. Overall, Dilshan stands at 3rd spot in the list T20I leading run-getters.

In bowling department, it is headed by their star paceman Lasith Malinga with 90 wickets — 2nd highest overall after Shahid Afridi with 97 wickets. Malinga took all those 90 wickets at an impressive average of 19.77 with a five-wicket haul as well from just 68 T20Is.

***

2 out of 3 teams have won their 100th T20I — Pakistan against UAE in 2016 and South Africa against Bangladesh earlier this year. On the other hand, New Zealand faced defeat at the hands of India in their milestone match by 6 runs last month at Thiruvananthapuram. It will be interesting to see how Sri Lanka’s ends up on their landmark T20I.

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